Was George Anson of Quasqueton the second son of an earl?”
No. Many stories have circulated about George Anson of Quasqueton being related to Lord Anson, the Earl of Lichfield, at Shugborough Hall (22) in Staffordshire, or of our George Anson being the second son of Baronet Anson of Birch Hall (the brother of the first Viscount Anson). We have checked out both of these stories with the listings in Burke’s Peerage, which has pedigrees of all the titled families in England. The short answer is that neither George Anson nor his father William can be traced to these families. Burke’s Peerage tells us that the first Viscount Anson, Thomas (23), was born in 1767. His eldest son, Thomas William, was created Earl of Lichfield in 1831. Viscount Anson did have a brother George, but this George was born in 1797 and died in India in 1857. This is obviously not our George Anson of Quasqueton. The first Viscount, Thomas Anson, also had a brother William, who was born in 1772 and was created Baronet of Birch Hall in 1831. Some people have come to the conclus
